SAN DIEGO, CA — The San Diego Sheriff Department is expected to explain how it works with federal immigration officials at a community forum hosted by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors today at 10 AM. Under state law, any law enforcement agency that provides ICE access to an individual must hold a community forum as part of the TRUTH Act.
Community members have expressed deep concerns about how the Sheriff has consistently undermined the California Values Act (SB 54), a state law that limits cooperation between law enforcement agencies and immigration officials. The Sheriff department has used border patrol agents as interpreters, violated mandatory transfer reporting and not complied with other mandatory reporting, among other things, undermining community trust and making everybody less safe.
What: San Diego County TRUTH Act Forum
When: Tuesday, November 19 at 10am
Where: Campus Center Chamber, County Operations Center, 5520 Overland Avenue, San Diego, CA 92123
Lilian Serrano, Alianza Comunitaria representative and Chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium, issued the following statement:
“The Sheriff department’s deliberate violations of SB 54 is undermining community trust in all law-enforcement agencies because all arrests are eventually processed by the Sheriff. As one of the largest and most important law enforcement agencies in the county, the Sheriff’s department should be a model on how to comply with state law SB 54 — and right now it’s far from setting the right standard . That’s why we are holding the San Diego County Sheriff accountable and calling for immediate departmental changes to bring the agency into full compliance with the law. Community trust depends on it.”
About the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium
The San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium is a project of Alliance San Diego. Since 2007, community, faith, labor, and legal organizations have come together as the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium (SDIRC). Through SDIRC, these organizations are pursuing four common goals: support comprehensive immigration reform; stop the spread of local policies and practices that target and violate the civil and human rights of immigrants; educate immigrants, and educate the public about the important contributions of immigrants. More at: www.immigrantsandiego.org.
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